i have a german shepherd named lucy who will be three years old next month. she has been reactive towards other dogs she doesn’t know and goes into guard mode when someone gets too close since she was a puppy. my mom and i had put in a lot of work with her trainer (who ended up knowing her genetics very well but that’s a whole other story) since lucy is a very stubborn dog. before we moved, i use to take her to the park that was near my childhood home so she can people watch to desensitize her. she also just loves people watching but we moved last fall and we were adding a new members into the household (my moms boyfriend + his dog) so during that whole process, our main priority became introducing lucy to the new members of the household. then life got busy so i haven’t really gotten the chance to bring her to a local park today and she did way better than i expected! she only had a few minor reactions when she saw some other dogs and some kids on roller skates/a scooter but i was able to redirect her & get her back on track fairly quickly. those reactions i was expecting too so it didn’t come as a surprise but lucy impressed with me with how fast she listened to me since it’s been so long. she didn’t react at all when we had to walk past people since the park had a veterans memorial that me and my siblings decided to check out hence the photo. i don’t have a lot of people in life who understands reactive dogs but i still wanted to share it here as im proud on the progress ive gotten with lucy :)

This is Padfoot, you'll be seeing a lot more of him. He is my sweet baby boy with *big* feelings. His backstory is a long one I'll type out another day. Bare minimum context: he was in training to be my service dog. While in training, he got attacked by off leash dogs on multiple occasions, had unsafe interactions with humans when I wasn't around, and now he's a behavior boy who has really bad days and - after years of b-mod - good days. Today was a good day.

He's always been better about human reactivity in public spaces like stores, transit, official buildings, etc. than at home because we did a lot of work in those and haven't had unsafe interactions. He knows when we enter a store to expect a lot of people and that I Will keep distance, so he's way less likely to erupt. Its been a long time since we have gone into a store, life came up and shit happens and blah blah its been a while.

We went to tractor supply an hour before closing. And he. Did. SO GOOD!!!! I need other people who understand to be excited with me because no one is matching my energy. We went through tiny aisles, saw a lot of people, walked by peoppe in close proximity, kids were running around, we stopped by the baby chickeys, a very tall man kept talking to him (usually an immediate trigger), and it was all amazing. No big feelings, lots of appropriate confidence, he looked to me for guidance the couple of times he felt a little insecure instead of making his own choices. Obedience skills were 100% there and immediate. Perfect focus.

We did check out and the lady reached over him to hand me my change (not a thing he enjoys), talked to me (usually a trigger) and talked to him. No issues. The ONLY hiccup in the entire visit was as we were going to leave. I released him from his sit, he got up to follow me, and the cashier lady stuck her face in his face and said "Byeee babyyyyy" and he obviously did not like it. BUT BUT BUT - instead of lunging at her face like he usually would, he took a step back and did a very big bark at her instead. And when I said leave it and walked forward, he immediately disengaged and followed. SO ITS STILL A MF WIN!!!!! I'm so proud of him. I love him. He is a baby. Pls be proud of Padfoot he deserves it and I read him his comments

shout out to the dog parents out there who continually do the absolute most for their pets, despite how stressful and emotionally exhausting it can be.

preface: i have a 7-year-old rescue who is generally a very good boy out in the world. fine on leash, fine seeing other dogs on the street, will sit and wait to cross the street, etc.

but he DESPISES the vet.

he’s on 40mg of prozac, takes heavy sedation before every appointment, then gets an additional sedative shot outside the office before we even attempt an exam. and even then, it’s hit or miss. we go to a fear free vet and work with a licensed behaviorist, but things are still…rough.

this morning, he started vomiting and coughing pretty badly, so off to the ER we went. i medicated him beforehand, but they couldn’t do his sedative shot and wouldn’t let the vet tech or ER doctor touch him. luckily, they were able to figure out what was going on and send us home with meds, but spending 3+ hours at the vet with a terrified dog is never fun.

i find myself crying at vet appointments more often than i’d like to admit because it feels like i’m jumping through every possible hoop to make sure he can get checked out and stay healthy, and sometimes it still just doesn’t work.

the vets are always incredibly kind and remind me that i’m doing everything i can. some days, that’s harder to believe than others.

so this is my long-winded way of giving a shout out to everyone else jumping through hoops galore to get their dog the care they need. to the pre-appointment meds, the behaviorists, the fear free vets, the tears in the exam room, and going home still hoping maybe next time will be a little easier.

I have an almost 9 year old medium sized mixed breed dog (border collie, ACD, staffy according to wisdom panel). My husband and I got him 8 years ago. Before us, he was briefly adopted as a puppy by a family with kids and was returned, we weren’t informed of this upon his adoption so idk why he was returned. We saw his original adoption post on the rescue’s facebook page. He was still young, like 9 or 10 months old when we got him.

He has always been easily stressed/anxious, but was very quiet and submissive until around 2 or 3 years old. We had another dog already when we got him and they always got on well, and he would meet new dogs and seemed curious/interested in them but again not really outgoing, very submissive. One day when he was like 2 or 3 it was like a flip switched and he could no longer be introduced to new dogs. Dogs he knew before he was fine with, but my sister in law got a puppy and he immediately went after it when we tried to introduce them. This happened with a few other friends’ dogs, So we stopped bringing him around new dogs, which wasn’t that hard to do.

A few years later, we hired a pet sitter to watch both dogs while we went on vacation, and he attacked our other (older and smaller) dog. He got a couple good bites in. When the sitter came over to check on them she noticed and separated them, but they were already cuddling together when she got back. We don’t know what caused the fight, but since then we’ve kept the dogs separate unless we are watching them. This was 3 years ago.

Well this week I had a baby. We knew that introductions would be tough, but he has never ever attacked or bit a person. So I was worried about it but not like overly worried I guess. We did the thing where you bring home a baby blanket with her scent first, we did not let him sniff her directly, we each went and spent some time just with him, and we kept him off the furniture where we were holding the baby. Well last night my husband was holding the baby while she napped in the living room and I was getting ready for bed, and he came in and told me that our dog had lunged at the baby, and he didn’t bite her or get her, but his mouth was either by or on her head.

So obviously we can’t keep our dog. We’ve been keeping him gated off in the lower level of our home with access to outside since last night. I’m not sure what to do. Do we try to rehome him making it very clear he needs to be an only pet in an adult-only household? Do we try to return him to his shelter again (after 8 years idk if they’d take him back anymore) and hope and pray they can rehome him or give him sanctuary for the rest of his life? Do we euthanize him, and be there for him in his final moments? I am distraught. I’ve spent 8 years trying to keep this dog safe, and he is so loving and gentle and good with me and my husband and other family/friends. Like obviously I love my real baby and pick her over my dog but I have had this dog for 8 years and in a lot of ways feel like he’s my family too.

Anyone who has advice for a similar situation, I’d love to hear it. I want to do right by him but I feel like it’s too late and I’ve already screwed up any chance he has at a life.

I’ve had my sweet, beautiful blue heeler girl for 7 years now, but I’ve been navigating a fair bit of challenges with her and I no longer know what to do next.

She’s very anxious, which I’ve gathered is common for her breed. This shows up primarily through fearfulness of the outdoors (going on walks, particularly where she’s not familiar, and staying somewhere new) as well as barking / licking / submissive peeing with any guests that come over, or when we go visit family and friends. The former I’ve learned a routine that works for us - it’s not ideal because she’s obviously not thrilled with it, but otherwise we’d never leave the house and I’d never be able to go away, to the point that I’ve been worried she might bite someone.

The latter is the bigger problem. Not only does it make it difficult to have guests over because I’m always monitoring her for accidents, licking, jumping, barking, etc., but with romantic partners, it feels impossible to build any sort of relationship when she goes absolutely mental towards any sort of physical affection.

I’ve tried crating her when people are over, but she’ll whine and bark non stop and have accidents in her crate. I’ve tried working with 3 different trainers including a behavioural vet for 8 months during which time we tried three different types of medications at various doses, paired with training (he claimed she had very poor quality of life due to the stress and anxiety…). I also tried another type of medication with my vet directly. I’ve tried training from YouTube videos, I’ve tried using diapers to at least overcome the problem with excited/submissive pees, and have even asked my guests to tell her No if she’s licking them (which feels unfair to everyone involved). Nothing seems to stick or help her settle.

I also feel terrible cause she’s obviously stressed and doing her best, so I keep telling myself to stay patient cause she is such a great dog otherwise, but it’s really starting to take its toll on me (it probably doesn’t help that I live alone, as well).

Any advice for anything else I can try?

My boyfriend and I have a 1.5 year old, reactive shiba (male and neutered). We currently live in a small city in CT in my moms house with a fenced in backyard. Theres not a lot of traffic around our neighborhood so he goes on walks frequently or gets let out in the backyard when I’m having chronic illness-related flare ups.

My boyfriend recently got a promotion that involves relocating to either brooklyn or manhattan within the next 8-12 months. I’m really worried that our boy wont be able to handle this life change but i’m willing to prepare him starting now.

Is there anything you might recommend doing with him now so this transition isn’t too difficult for him when the time comes? His triggers (so far) are small animals like squirrels, chipmunks, cats, etc; people walking past us or our house/car (sometimes), small children/toddlers (sometimes), and other dogs, especially while on a leash. We do plan on working with a trainer as soon as we find a new one, since we just had to fire our previous trainer.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! :)

Hi guys! A success story.

I lost my soul dog in January - she was born calm. Social but calm and gentle. We had a similar personality. We went through a lot together.

I welcomed my pup in May figuring I couldn’t just be sad and stay home all day. Researched breeders and picked my girl.

Within a few days of being home, she started barking, lunging, pulling at dogs across the street on leash. There was no threshold. She was ok off leash once she met the dog. The breeder thought she’d be good at a puppy social off leash but she got kicked out and they said I should return her to the breeder.

We live in a busy building with lots of dogs and ton in my area but we had a great trainer and worked hard every single day.

It was mostly frustration but just turned into over arousal.

We did lots of engage disengage, she got to know some of the neighborhood dogs, we went to the park when it was empty to run.

I didn’t think I could keep her at one point because she would get so trigger stacked she’d be anxious whereas she’s always been calm at home.

She vastly improved at the 2 month mark and we are at almost 4 months and we went to a farmers market yesterday with lots of dogs even several barking at her and she did great! We had gone to some more busy streets and she was good. She had a blast and got a bunch of attention and fancy treats.

She spent some time at boarding while I had a procedure with her breeder so she’s readjusting a bit to single dog city life but even on our last walk 2 dogs barked at her and she looked at them then me.

It’s rough but I know you and your pups can do it!

Tldr: 5 y/o rescue has grown increasingly reactive since we picked him up 6 months ago. Training and meds haven't helped much and I think he needs a more experienced handler with better resources. We are very attached to him though and feel incredibly guilty. I'm worried I'm making a decision too soon

My dog bit my grandma today, and I’m trying to understand and get some advice.
I wasn’t there when it happened, so I’m going based on what my grandparents told me. They felt the bite was completely unprovoked, but they had been arguing about five minutes before, so I’m wondering if my dog may have already been scared or stressed.
My dog was on the couch with my grandpa when my grandma got up and walked toward them. She apparently started growling, jumped off the couch, and laid on her back while my grandpa pet her. She then got back on the couch and continued making a low growling noise. Her tail was wagging, and she sometimes makes similar noises while playing, so they didn’t think much of it. When my grandma went to pet her, my dog bit her hand.
There was also a brand-new Chewy toy on the floor that I had just gotten her today, so I’m wondering if she could have been resource guarding the toy, the couch, my grandpa, or possibly just reacting from being stressed.
Thankfully, my grandma is okay and it looks more like a scratch than a puncture. I’m not trying to excuse what happened — I just want to understand it and learn how to prevent it from happening again. Any advice or experiences with resource guarding or fear/stress-related biting would be really appreciated.

Trying to figure out where we went wrong. 3 years ago we got a dog as a puppy, Ruby, who has always been extremely exuberant. Barking at everything and everything. I didn't think much of it because I had a childhood dog that was a barker. We didn't encourage it with Ruby, but it never got better. She has always been extremely interested in other dogs. I thought it was because she's lonely living with two humans.

We took her to group training classes (puppy and beginner) where we learned to redirect her focus, the command "quiet" when barking, we never introduce her to dogs when leashed/on walks. We started taking her out in the backyard before goung on a walk, thinking some mental and physical activity would make her calmer when running into another dog (didn't work). We closed the blinds when something makes her bark, then, when that wasn't working and we hated being in dark rooms all day, we let her have the study as her "bark room". A friend stayed with us and brought her 2 dogs and ruby barked at them for 5.5 hours. It was awful. She'll bark at anyone/anything wherever she is--home, car, walk, in our arms, whatever.

Walking her is miserable. We see a dog and she's tugging on the leash, barking. We sought help with the dog trainer who gave us some tips like redirecting, giving her a toy to hold in her mouth, high value treats when she focuses on us and not the dog, etc., but nothing worked. We're now going to great lengths to avoid her seeing any dog. It's a toss up how well she will respond to our commands to redirect, which has been frustrating because we feel like we've always been proactive.

No signs of other aggression until 2 months ago with my family's senior dog, who resource guards food. Sophie has never been a fan of Ruby, so we always watch them closely to keep Ruby from bothering Sophie. During this latest visit, both of them had to be kept separate, specially in the kitchen, because Ruby would get right up in Sophie'a face barking madly, not like her normal over excited barking. Sophie was rather mean as a puppy to her older brother (the barker from my childhood) when he was old so I wondered if what I was seeing was more to do with her behavior, but deep down I was worried that Ruby was showing new aggression.

We went to a dog park after 2 years (we go very infrequently, yes I have mixed feelings, not the point of this post), it was her and another dog her size. She sprinted up, sniffing the butt, okay, then my husband threw the ball and they both ran after it. Ruby got possessive of it and barked right up at the dog's face, just like with Sophie. We left immediately.

Historically she has had no issues running after a ball with other dogs. Her standard behavior at a dog park is to run around while the other dogs chase her (she loves to be chased by dogs and humans).

I used to think she was overly social and just didn't understand dog cues when other dogs would visibly turn away from her barking. But now I'm wondering if this was something we trained into her somehow? Not sure how to fix this because we've tried so much the past 3 years. Note, when she is boarded I always ask how she was, and they've never said anything bad, just that she "likes to talk". I assume they'd let us know if she was aggressive with other dogs.

So, I'm petsitting two Dachshunds, 1 and 2 y/o. The main issue is that they loose their minds if we see another dog outside, excessive barking, pulling the leash etc. Not just dogs obvs, cats and humans, specially men and kids. They team up, us against the whole world motto. I've tried distraction but it doesn't last long. They also learned how to be around our foster cat but outside is something else. I'm open to any suggestion to work on that behavior.

I have recently adopted a 13 month old Irish wolfhound puppy. He has had a rough start to life and had been in the pound for months when he came to me. He is already a very large dog, but is honestly such a sweet soul. The issue is he is an over excitable puppy with no socialisation yet and very bad manners. In a small dog, it would be annoying. But in a dog his size it’s almost dangerous. He doesn’t mean harm, but if he gets too excited he will pin me down and hump me or jump on other dogs and he’s just too big and strong for that. Because he was so intense, the vet suggested Prozac which he’s been on for around a month and a small dose of trazadone. He’s just been desexed so I’m hoping he settles more with that.

The trazadone is the game changer. I only give him 1/2 or a 1/4 of the dose, but it settles him and makes him such a chill, easy dog. Not overly sedated, not anxious. Just perfect.

I’m told it’s not a long term solution and he can’t have it forever but man it makes him an angel dog. Also feel really guilty about drugging him so I’m keen to hear from others who have their dogs on trazadone long term. I know his issues are just related to being a puppy and also a rescue with a tough start, but I do feel like I need this help to be able to manage him.

Thoughts?

My friend, (E) has two french bulldogs. One of her french bulldogs is perfectly fine, very friendly and is never very territorial. They got the second french bulldog about a year ago, he is the complete opposite, and a rescue. I myself have a small rescue and am aware of their tendancies to choose a favourite person/safe person, as well as being defensive and anxious. My friend (E)'s mother is his favourite person. Me and my sister go to (E)'s house frequently, my sister actually was there more often/before he was in the home. This dog originally was nervous however got used to her, behaving carefully although it began to relax. (Although, suddenly one day, the dog bit her out of nowhere despite there being no obvious trigger) becoming more wary of her presence around the house and became incredibly aggressive and intimidating to both of us. The dog has had numerous instances where he has attempted to bite. I myself also own a Frenchie, they can be lovely but I'm aware that being a rescue hugely impacts their behaviour. The dog is so aggressive and difficult that me and my sister are unable to walk around her house without him being picked up and put away for the moment, we have to stay behind a gate and everytime he notices us he runs close to the gate barking and growling nonstop. The dog is also harsh with (E)'s dad although he is not as aggressive as he is with me and my sister. I attempted to be brave, leaving the gate and bringing him his food. All I got from that was him attempting to bite through my shoe.

(Yes, I'm aware french bulldogs aren't a super large dog breed but it doesn't change the fact that they have incredibly strong bite forces if they feel threatened.) Me and my sister are tired of having to constantly hide around the house, unable to walk anywhere without closed doors because of his viscious tendancies.

(E)'s parents are not particularly bothered about trying to fix this behaviour, he seems to not be as aggressive to some people although he has definitely been somewhat difficult and crazed with every guest, they barely have any over due to the dog because of his behaviour.

Also I'd like to mention I was wary of the dog before I even met him because of the fact that he bites people despite there not being any obvious fast movements/triggers/lack of space. I've always been cautious and have only been in the same space as him once (during the time I tried to feed him like (E)'s mother suggested to gain his trust)

I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done, if anyone has any ideas let me know, the dog is dangerous and acts on offense rather than hiding/cowering, very territorial over every aspect of the house.

I provided as much context as I can below, but looking for recommendations on addressing new fear reactivity towards other humans while my dog is in his adolescent fear period. At the very least, I just don't want to be making things worse before we get started with a trainer in a couple weeks.

My pup is coming up on 10 months old, we adopted him around 3.5 months old. He came from the rescue already neutered, with severe giardia and coronavirus, he had not been properly vaccinated, and was only partially potty trained to pee pads. Not a great start for him, so our first two months with him were just potty training, and getting him healthy.

We did a wisdom panel on him and he's husky, malamute, gsd, staffy, pit, and a handful of other breeds in small percentages. He's mostly husky, looks like a white/cream husky but with short hair and he's plateaued at 45lbs right now. He's a high energy and very intelligent dog.

We live in an urban environment in a condo, so he gets lots of play time at home, puzzle feeders, and 4+ miles of walking per day. A few days a week he walks to work with me and spends the day in my corporate office with me, where he sees 40+ people and interacts with 5+ people who regularly come into my office to talk to me. The rest of the time he's at home with my partner who works from home, so he's always with us or rarely left by himself for a half day, he doesn't go to doggy care or anywhere that he's exposed to humans and dogs without us.

When we adopted him, he was very out going with humans and very reactive to other dogs, but in a very "I want to play" way, like jumping/lunging and getting into a play bow stance, tail wagging, like definitely reactive, but not from a place of fear. We've made so much progress in this area, we are able to walk by most dogs with very little or no reaction. The only time we still have an issue is when it's a dog that's going nuts reacting to him, usually a small dog barking and lunging at him. We're making progress with that too though, and I feel confident we're not far from fully getting through this reactivity.

Around 7 months old he started being more cautious about meeting people, but as long as the environment was calm and he got a chance to approach on his own, he was still willing to meet people. Around 8 months old, that dropped off and he no longer wants to meet any one, and is now even nervous about people he's known for several months. In the last ~6 weeks this has escalated very quickly and has gotten to the point where he is growling at people who are waiting to get on the elevator when we are getting off, and trying to bolt when people pass by too close to us on the sidewalk when we're out on our walks. Hes also been getting super startled by random loud city noises. None of these things used to bother him at all, he's been exposed to all of these things since we got him, but now it's a very clear fear reaction.

I've come to understand that he's in his second fear period, and I'm at a loss on how to handle this because nothing about our routines have really changed, he has been exposed to all these environmental factors / people his whole life with us, but his fear is escalating so quickly, I am terrified if we don't get ahead of it now we're going to have a long life of this reactivity.

Hello!

I have a four year old mixed breed pup that I've had since she was four months old. She's always been fearful and reactive, and our training journey has had its ebbs and flows.

Earlier this year, I lost my job, and my pup's routine changed. I used to work from the office three days a week and work from home the other two. She was thriving in daycare, despite the challenges that can arise for reactive pups, and when I was home we were successfully taking walks, playing outside in our yard, visiting quieter parks, being neutral with triggers from a distance, and things were wonderful.

When I first lost my job, we walked all the time and did pretty long walks. Her walks were usually more loose i.e. sniff walks with some structured moments. There were times we couldn't walk far because she came into contact with too many triggering moments (bikes, big trucks, loud cars, runners), and she would be too overloaded. But it was never anything out of the norm. She also maintained her joy for going to parks and being in the yard.

Now, I can barely get a good walk in with her. Sometimes she taps out in 10 minutes. Other times she will plant herself and not move. I've tried taking her to new areas which have a 50% success rate, but she still won't want to be out for long. She won't play in the yard. I can't take her to the parks because she is simply too afraid. She does love hiking, but I can't do that everyday.

Her reactivity does seem to be more pronounced now as well. She has stranger danger with everyone which wasn't the case before. She had "selective reactivity".

We play in the house just fine, and I'm trying to use this comfort zone to still get her active both mentally and physically, but I'd like to address the fear that's preventing her from enjoying being outside.

Has anyone had this happen with their dogs? What did you do to get them comfortable being outside and in the world again?

Hello, I have a doodle/catahoula mix female that is roughly 2 years old and a male doodle that’s is almost 4. They have lived together since the female was born and get along great. We had a female german shepherd show up at the house over a year ago now and she has stayed with us but the females do not get along when my mom is around. the german shepherd follows my mom around like she is herding her. She doesn’t let my mom get out of her sight. Anyways, the 2 females constantly have been having really bad fights lately (this morning was the worst) and the german shepherd likes to antagonize the other female. She will go inside her crate and annoy her. Bella the doodle/catahoula mix puts up with her crap most of the time but she has gotten to a point where she has stopped and just started to whoop the german shepherds ass weekly at this point. What is your advice, we have tried rehoming the german shepherd but no luck.

Ich muss das mal loswerden, weil's mich langsam echt fertigmacht.

Mein Hund bellt bei buchstäblich allem. Es klingelt an der Tür? Ausraster. Der Postbote kommt die Straße hoch? Ausraster. Ein Blatt weht übers Fenster? Ausraster. Nachbar schließt zwei Stockwerke tiefer die Tür? Er weiß es besser als jede Alarmanlage.

Das Schlimmste ist inzwischen das Soziale. Wenn Besuch kommt, geht die erste Minute komplett im Gebell unter, und ich steh daneben und sag zum zehnten Mal „er ist eigentlich total lieb, er muss sich nur kurz beruhigen". Ich hab schon angefangen, Leute lieber draußen zu treffen, nur um mir das zu ersparen. Und die dünnen Wände hier machen's nicht besser – ich warte quasi täglich auf den ersten bösen Zettel im Treppenhaus.

Also mal ehrlich in die Runde:

Wer von euch hat so einen kleinen Dauer-Beller? Und vor allem – hat bei euch irgendwas WIRKLICH geholfen, das Bellen runterzufahren? Training, Routine, irgendein Trick? Gern auch die Sachen, die bei euch NICHT funktioniert haben. Ich fühl mich gerade ziemlich allein damit. 😅